Blast of silence

A low budget fairly cult noir film from Allen Baron, set in New York at Christmas with a lone contract killer going about about his business, and it is tight but very raw and not particularly entertaining, it has a great voice over though.

Miss Julie

Class and sex conflicts seen by Strinberg and filmed by Alf Sjoberg. I didn't care much for it, found the 2 main characters quite annoying, and although the direction is quite clever i found it off putting.

Mala Noche

Van Sant has gone a long way since his first feature, although his unusual style was already there. I must i didn't find it so great, but it has characters, the lead actor and his voice over are quite annoying.

Paranoid Park

Another great film from Gus Van Sant, photographed by Chris Doyle in Portland, and told in a very fragmented way, and once again about disoriented young people.

The Smiling Lieutenant

Chevalier, Hopkins and Colbert in this Lubitsch comedy with a small number of songs. Again it starts well, but as song as the wedding has taken place it gets a bit flat,, but picks up at the end.

The love parade

Lubitsch's first talking picture, with Chevalier as a naughty count based in Paris who is sent back to his country and end up marrying the Queen, but gets very bored. It starts very well, but as soon as the wedding is done, it just drags on.

Bon à rien

The first film from Kiju Yoshida, with an ending that seems inspired by A bout de souffle. It follows a group of lazy youth, one of whom is the son of a wealthy businessman, his friend got somehow hooked with the secretary, and it all ends up in drama. Stunning black and white scope.

Under the volcano

Not an easy film, adapted from a very difficult novel. Huston succeeds in creating a strange atmosphere with fine performance from Albert Finney. But it doesn't make for pleasant viewing.

Bubble fiction: boom or bust

Some kind of light Japanese blockbuster, about time travel from 2007 to 1990, before the economic bubble burst and the excess of Japan at the time, in a funny 80s way, light entertainment, but poor rhythm.

Accepted

A nice little teen comedy about some dudes that are rejected from colleges and create their own shortened as SHIT. Big moral feel good discourse at the end like the yanks like to do it, but fun to watch.

Lisa and the devil

A great Bava, with lots of atmosphere and some surreal scenes, although the plot doesn't make much sense, the mood and setting is fantastic. Telly Savalas looks quite evil, in a funny way at times.

The Darjeeling Limited

Charming, well acted, quirky and a great art direction, with the fantastic Indian train, better then expected, but still a bit shallow and inconsequential nor particularly deep, like a nice fashion magazine.

Four times that night

A so called sex comedy from Bava, using the Rashomon story-telling tricky. Quite stylish as usual, but not very sexy and certainly not funny, but completely tedious.

Baron Blood

So so 70's gothic film from Bava, with a ridiculous plot, a screaming chick and some fake blood, visual good, but quite boring in fact.

5 Dolls for an August Moon

A bunch of people in an isolated house on an island, a professor who has a secret formula, and 3 dodgy business partners ready to pay for it and some sexy girls, then everybody dies in this Bava film with a great psychedelic score.

The Exterminating Angel

A very surreal film from Don Luis, set in a big mansion, where the hosts entertain 20 high society guests for a dinner party, but the servants leave before it starts, apart from the butler, and the dinner turns very strange when the guests can't leave the house, and it all turns quite nasty.

Superbad

Fairly typical teen comedy, but there are some good twists, and the actors are mostly brilliant. Could have been paced better, and be tighter, but still entertaining.

The Wire: Season 1

West Baltimore and run down projects, bad guys dealing drugs and killing, tough cops, corrupt politicians, the law, all is there for a fantastic and complex show, very very good.